The Witch Among Humans

Chapter 30: Grometheus the Fear Bringer - Part 2

Warning: This stuff may be slightly intense.

"I'm afraid your college application has been declined, Augustus." Principal Bump said. He held an envelope in his hand, a sad expression on him.

"What?" Gus couldn't believe it. "I-I worked for two whole weeks on my essay! I have a near 4.0 GPA! Did I do something wrong?" 

He was pulling on his hair lightly, calming himself down. But he had put in the work. What else did he fail to do.

"Well, the reason is... you're too young."

"... I'm too young?"

"Yes. You're going to be an early high school graduate, and they simply do not believe that you have had the time to... digest enough from our classes."

"I have one of the schools' highest scores on tests, right?" Gus took a deep breath. "Is there anything I can do to fix this?"

Bump sighed. "Well, if you don't already know what to do, then you may have proven them right." Gus raised an eyebrow: what had he proved right? Something negative? "It's quite simple, really."

You don't deserve to be here when so many other students can't even afford to pay for lunch. Especially when you're two years younger. I mean, who thought that was a good idea?

Gus curled into a ball, ignoring the rest of Principal Bump's speech. He didn't notice the fact that the voice was deeper, even as the scene changed to a recent memory; the attack of Bat Queen.

How he was forced to run the whole time. How despite being a fast runner, he still nearly died.

How Willow had to save him once again, and Luz had to catch her attention. All for the sake of not dying, which shouldn't be this hard.

Then his mind went back to different memories, from getting stuck in a hole he dug to deleting important files on his dad's computer.

Gus was constantly getting in over his head, and needed help to fix it. He wasn't capable on his own.

Yet he somehow got to skip ahead in school. He was friends with a superhero. He was given a lot.

But you don't deserve it, do you?

Gus nodded to the deep voice in his head. Then why fight for something that shouldn't be yours?

Gus could feel shadows circling around him, but he didn't resist. He wasn't going to be saved this time.

He didn't deserve it.

Then, his mind went to a past memory. It was extremely random, but he remembered an incident about a month as a new high schooler.

After being tricked by some Sophmores to do their homework, all in the sake of friendship, Augustus was hiding under a desk. The classroom wasn't being used at the time.

He was holding in his tears (mostly), and his upper classmates' laughter kept running through his head.

Thanks for the help, little kid. Looks like you do have a use.

"Are you... okay?." A shy voice asked. Gus looked up to see a girl who looked a bit older than him. "Um, hi."

Augustus simply tilted his head.

She continued. "I thought I was the only one that hid here. Is something wrong?"

Who's she? A voice in Gus' head asked.